Viv

Went out last night and when I came home I was too wired to sleep so I sewed instead haha. Stayed up till 1am but was rewarded as we did pointe in class today and I was able to join in. I swear, it's way more comfortable up en pointe than it is trying to walk around with them flat! I thought it should be the other way around.

Luckily I am saved from darning for now! It doesn't seem to be a big thing in my area, the stick on patches are generally preferred. I think I will go with a more conservative estimate because my sewing is tragic and wake up an hour and a half earlier than normal. This way I'll have time to unpick the whole thing and start again, stick myself with the needle and clean up the blood, then cry in frustration for a couple of minutes. All before breakfast

Update: teacher could see the heel cutting in and wanted to see the half size bigger. These she are concerned are too big, though only a little bit. She says ideally I'd fit somewhere between the two sizes (if only bloch made quarter sizes!) but we've decided to go with the small ones this time and hope that when broken in they stretch a bit and toes can stay long with no pins and needles. We shall see! This is just my first pair, so of course it won't be perfect Now another question - how long did it take you all to sew your first pair? I will have no chance to sew them until Saturday morning, and I need to know how early I need to get up before morning class to get it done haha.

I they're wrong, I have no problem with taking them back, I would only feel embarrassed to take them back if they're actually fine and I'm just being overly sensitive... It's just such a new feeling and hard to tell the difference between 'uncomfortable' and 'wrong'. I've had a full nights sleep at least now though (I was operating on 3 hours sleep at the time of the fitting) I am back to being excited about the whole thing and the fitting itself has faded in my mind Unfortunately, I'm on the other side of the country from Sydney which limits my options further. I know a store here where I've witnessed a really good fitting before though, I just wish I had trusted my gut and gone there originally.

Thanks _emeralds, I wish I could say 'it's nice to know I'm not alone' but really, I prefer not to think of other adult students having these difficulties. I think the only thing to do at this point is keep 'em safe and clean and fall upon the knowledge my teacher. Definitely no ribbons going on before then and trust me, it's not so tempting to wear these shoes around the house lest my feet drop off hahaha.

Thank you for all your replies I am based in Australia, so a little out of the way for most of you haha. I just found that this site made so much more sense than any of the American based ones, particularly for someone training in RAD. I've been stalking for a while before signing up. I will definitely be taking the shoes to my teacher, I trust her implicitly and I feel more comfortable discussing my concerns with her than the lady at the shop who I umm...didn't quite click with. If my teacher says they're right, then I will chalk it up as a new experience and just get on with learning how to use the things properly (though will probably go elsewhere when it's time for my next pair of pointes). Thank you Janet for the link. I think I may have gone a little crazy reading other peoples experiences recently to get a feel for how a fitting should go, which is why I was so surprised with how mine went. I'm open to the idea that I may have been unrealistic in my expectations. My left foot is at least a half size bigger, if not more. It is also a lot more arched and almost a different shape than the right one. I like to think of my feet as 'sisters' rather than twins. Sheila, I have heard such good things about your store, maybe if I ever make it back above the equator! Just to confirm, my technique and strength were assessed by my teacher over a 6 month period before giving me the okay, and then I needed a written note from a podiatrist saying there was no structural or functional issues before she'd let me get fitted, so at least I can feel confident that the rest of the process has been done right. The whole fitting took about 15 minutes and they were almost chasing me out of the shop, even though I made an appointment They actually sent me off without ribbons even though they had charged me for them!

I had my first pointe shoe fitting today (exciting!) but after leaving I have a few concerns as it didn't really go the way I was expecting and I'm not a huge fan of the shoes themselves... By way of background, I'm 23 years old, started dancing three years ago and am starting IF this year. My teacher has just approved me for pointe and told me to go see a particular fitter at a particular store because my teacher trusts her. My feet are two different sizes (very different) and I have a disappearing heel which I've been told will make my feet hard to fit. I went in prepared with this knowledge but I'm still a little disappointed with how it played out. First of all, the fitter didn't ever actually look at my feet... She told me to take my socks off and pull my tights (convertible) down all with her back to me. So she never got a sense of length of toes, shape of toes, height, width, anything. Never considered toe spacers when I know my big toe points inwards slightly. She gave me some ouch pouches and then just thrust shoes at me. The first ones she tried were Bloch European Balance and she decided they weren't right, so she tried Bloch Heritage (I think they only stocked bloch) which she said she loved. I then asked if there were any others I could try on, if for no other reason than to feel what the wrong shoe feels like. Her and the assistant both looked at me like I was crazy and refused, the main fitter saying 'if you want to feel bad shoes, put the Euro Balance back on'. So I did, and on flat it feels like my feet are being squashed, they're actually painful and I was getting pins and needles in the 5 minutes I was just standing in them. When up en pointe they felt fine as my heel gets smaller and they size is just right. The fitter says 'well you'll be up there all the time so it doesn't matter what it feels like on flat, besides, this is ballet not basketball you just have to deal with it'. And then decides that it's the Euro Balances she previously didn't like which are now the perfect shoe and that's what she sold me... My question is - will they stretch at all through wearing? Will they feel better when they're broken in? Are they really supposed to be that tight? Is it better to fit to a pointed foot than a flat one? I'm so new to this, I really don't know what to be concerned about and what is normal, but it was a pretty unpleasant experience and sort of soured my excitement at finally being ready to progress. My teacher still has to approve them before I sew anything and I'll raise my concerns with her, but I'm a little worried that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and I don't want to insult a fitter she clearly trusts and sends all her students to. Sorry for the essay, any advise greatly appreciated!